Ted Cruz on Wednesday said Donald Trump’s campaign had threatened legal action over a campaign ad. His response: Bring it on.

“Donald, if you want to file a lawsuit challenging this ad, claiming it’s defamation, file the lawsuit,” Cruz told reporters here after playing the ad, which shows clips of Trump espousing more liberal positions on issues like abortion from an interview with Tim Russert more than a decade ago.

Cruz, a Harvard-educated lawyer and former Texas solicitor general, went on to say he might depose Trump in court himself. And he warned that should Trump proceed, he and his lawyers would be “sanctioned in court for filing frivolous litigation.”

Cruz’s press conference comes as he seeks to recapture some momentum in the final days before Saturday’s primary in a deeply conservative state that should be friendly territory, but where he instead lags well behind Trump.

Trump fired back at Cruz with a sharp statement. “He is a liar and these ads and statements made by Cruz are clearly desperate moves by a guy who is tanking in the polls — watching his campaign go up in flames finally explains Cruz’s logo,” Trump replied in a statement. He went on to pledge, “If I want to bring a lawsuit it would be legitimate. Likewise, if I want to bring the lawsuit regarding Senator Cruz being a natural born Canadian I will do so. Time will tell, Teddy.”

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